Concert Reviews (176)

• July 26, 2024
• Colleen Johnson
• 382
• 0

Last night, I headed out to Natick to The Center of the Arts for a singer-songwriter-coded evening reminiscent of venues closer to me, like Club Passim and City Winery. It was a great, intimate setting for a familiar face to NES with Kris Allen and a support act in Walker Burroughs. Burroughs played double duty that evening, slipping onto keys for Allen about ten minutes after he left the stage. The duo was a perfect pairing for the crowd in attendance, balancing well off of each other and also both bringing natural charisma and a talent for storytelling to the stage that night in their respective sets. 

Walker Burroughs kicked off the night with a tinge of goofiness added to a night that balanced both slowed-down beauties and moments like “Cooter, the Dog.” The latter is about a dog he experienced called Cooter while working in the Appalachians. A fellow Southerner (hailing from Nashville via Birmingham, Alabama, and Kris from Conway, Arkansas), his wit quickly won over the crowd. The opening set can always be challenging to pull off, and Burroughs didn’t flail at this task. As he walked on stage, he said hello before apologizing, saying, “I’m sorry I haven’t made it to the microphone yet; I’m taking my time.” He opened the set with goofier moments, talking about how his first song was written about a video he saw, “I saw a man teaching people on TikTok how to eat peas. That doesn’t matter, so I wrote a song about it.” 

Each song in the set was feted  by a bit of a story, and the respectful audience of music lovers were hanging on Burrough’s every word. Be it “Made to Be,” a song he wrote just after being eliminated from his stint on American Idol, “It’s a song I still need now.” To the story, he told about the stunning “The Moon Song,” about when he found out a girl he had a crush on in high school had a boyfriend and was gutted. Or be it  the inspiration  behind “Cooter the Dog.” The set was appropriately sprinkled with lighter and goofier moments, but there were beauties of lyrics like, “I’m mixed in your signals.” Ending his set on his most recent single, dropped only a few weeks ago, “Pretty Penny,” he left the crowd wanting more and set up the rest of the night to come with ease.  The pair screamed like a great touring duo, and their love for each other was clear as the artists greeted fans at the merch table post-show. 

 

About ten minutes later, no stranger to New England, Kris Allen, took the stage, solo to start, opening the night with “Out Alive.” As the band took their places from the audience, the night careened into a story-filled set and clever quips from Allen. Before Allen burst into the night of music, his first interaction with the crowd simply was, “My name is Kris Allen, and I’m happy to be here. We’ll try not to start any fires tonight. But if we do, it should be alright?” A nod to the venue as TCAN was originally home to the original Central Fire Station in Natick. And I’m pretty sure earlier, as I was walking over to the venue, in what I’m assuming the new station is, I witnessed a fireman running around in what I’m assuming was a drill just a few steps from the venue. 

Jumping into “Faster Shoes,” Allen laid out the “one rule” for the evening, saying, “There’s one rule tonight: if you know the words, you have to sing.” As the set progressed, it became clear that Allen had curated the setlist to appease the room’s long-time fans. While newer tracks like “Guinevere” were featured early on, moments like these were followed  by fan favorites like “Waves.” Throughout the night, Allen slipped on his performer shoes and checked in with the crowd. This included his first acknowledgment that one of his children and wife were in attendance at the show. At one point, saying, “Do you guys like weekends? I don’t. My child is here, so I can’t say why.” He also spoke  about how it was his son’s birthday the next day just before his encore, and when someone in the crowd asked if he would sing him Happy Birthday, he just went, “He wouldn’t want me to,” and looking at the side of the stage, went,  “Right?” Just to hear a little “No” come out. 

Lighter moments continued throughout the set, including when he took fan requests and pulled off a medley on the fly of “Lost” and “Monster.” This was swiftly followed up by a man named Devin in the crowd saying how Allen had once done “Heartless” into “Monster”. Allen responded, “Heartless into Monster? I did that? That’s so cool.” Within a few minutes, Allen invited Devin on stage, and they performed “Heartless” together. While the lighter moments were great, the performance won the crowd over the most regarding the slower moments of the set and the introduction of Allen’s newest single. That single,  “More Than Ever,” came out today and reads as a love letter to Allen’s wife. Allen said, “I think you can fall more and more in love every day,” and after trying to bring together his thoughts, sweetly, Allen finished with, “I’m sorry, babe, I’m butchering this.” 

Allen’s evident love for his  family came through as well when talking about one of his other children, Rosie, whose vocals are the backbeat to his song, “Don’t Stop Dancing,” and a sing-along brought on by Allen with “Different Bridges, Same River.” It will be a night on the minds of his fans for a while, for sure. Allen wound down the set after this with “Safe Harbor” and ended his main set with his break-out hit, “Live Like You’re Dying.” An encore was also on the books, with Allen finishing out the set the way he started it by himself on stage. He ended with “Venice” and said, “I’m sorry if you hate this song, and I’m ending with it.” 

Allen’s set was beautifully balanced throughout and was one the crowd thoroughly enjoyed, giving Allen a standing ovation at the end. If the line-up at the merch booth as Allen made his way over was any indication, it’s clear why Allen has continued to maintain such a cult following. He made time for everyone who wanted to say hi and take a photo, and the smiles on everyone’s faces made it clear that it was a night for many to remember. 

The tour has no signs of stopping anytime soon, with the show hitting NYC tomorrow at Joe’s Pub! Limited tickets are still available; you can pick up a ticket here! I also spoke with Allen post-show, and that interview is going live tomorrow. Allen’s latest album will hit later this year, so keep your eyes on that with Pole Vaulter.  Do yourself a favor and catch this show when it comes to your city.  You can find all the remaining dates here!